There was the career fair at our university yesterday and a friend of mine, who has a brother that works for Credit Suisse in Geneva (apparently he's quite high ranked in the bond trading department), told me that people that study at our university have virtually no chance at getting in IB (if they do their master there after their bachelor degree is completed. Our program is decent but nowhere near the best programs in Europe, even in Switzerland I think. Made me think a lot today.
Working in IB is really a big dream for me, it's something that would be incredibly awesome but I know that it'll be an extremely long and hard (that's what she said...) journey, I know it's highly competitive and you got to come from a great school that has a great program.
What are the best schools (and master degrees) if you wanna get into investment banking?
I could get directly into HEC Lausanne, you just have to have a bachelor degree from a Swiss uni otherwise we (Swiss) have no other conditions to fulfill, it's number 13 of the Financial Times best master degrees in finance in 2011. Not bad. I was thinking St-Gallen too, which is even better (12th on the list).
What else? I'm guessing LSE, Oxford, Warwick, Princeton, HEC Paris,...
Guesses are ok even though I'm not entirely convinced about Warwick (but I'm also not an expert on UK schools and hiring). Also not clear what Princeton does in that list since it will make applying to firms in Europe difficult.
I think LSE, Oxford, HEC and HSG really give you the best opportunities - you got it right. Other schools with good programs and good placement in Europe include: Bocconi, IE Madrid, RSM, WHU, SSE. LBS is also a serious contender. The brand reputation carries you quite far even though the MSc programs are fairly new.
If you really want banking then you should stay away from Lausanne. You'll still have a shot there but your chances are better at other universities.
quit your hockey and get a related exp first
I'd add Warwick and Imperial to tier 1 for London recruiting. Cass is kinda ok, too (BAML likes guys from there). The usual suspects are LSE, LBS, Oxbridge, HEC, Bocconi, HSG, RSM.
Not tier-1 but also a look worth: Maastricht, WU Vienna, EBS, Frankfurt, Mannheim, EDHEC, Copenhagen
For recruiting in Germany/Switzerland it doesn't have to be Woxbridge to break into IB. Anyways, shoot for one of the Top-20 programmes and internships.
Thanks for your responses guys.
Concerning banking, the brother of my friend that works at Credit Suisse didn't go to a prestigious school but went to a lower tier university, the one I'm currently at. He did his bachelor and master degree there. So anything is possible right? I'm guessing it's not the same for IB and highly competitive jobs though, for that you gotta go to LSE, Oxford, HEC, HSG,...
Also, concerning the US, do they hire guys from these top european programs? Or do you first have to work in London, Zurich, Geneva, Paris or Frankfurt a couple years and then go to the US. The reason I'm asking is cuz that's what I'd really like to do with my life, work in the US some day.
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